Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Kinnock and Paul Holmes

Tuesday 9th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

Waiting times for cataract operations in my constituency are rising hugely because the local ICB and its AI system have stopped offering services through all the advertised providers, and the ICB has scrapped its contract with Specsavers, meaning that only GPs can diagnose the problem. Will the Minister have a look at the local problem and intervene so that we have the widest and best range of providers to reduce those waiting lists?

[Stephen Kinnock]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that getting the link between high street optometrists and secondary care working more effectively is vital. That is why I was pleased to announce the £20 million e-referral investment earlier this week. We are also working on a single point of access, to get the digital interface working far more effectively. He is right that we should be focusing on that more; there is a lot more to do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Kinnock and Paul Holmes

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I am delighted that Julia’s House hospice received £525,000 from the allocation. I am sure that was very welcome to the staff and the families. It is also worth noting that, of the £100 million allocation that we made to capital funding, £12 million went to children’s hospices. That is an increase on top of what we have just been talking about. Of course, there are challenging times for funding, but we have also provided the sector with a huge amount of certainty and stability.

[Paul Holmes (Hamble Valley) (Con)]

This funding is welcome, but hospices such as Mountbatten in my area are still making cuts because of the budgetary choices that the Chancellor made and ICB practices. This is a multi-year funding settlement, but multi-year funding settlements need to be longer. Will the Minister commit to including all hospices in a longer multi-year funding settlement for stability in the sector?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I find it quite extraordinary that Opposition Members come to this House and lecture us on the sustainability of funding, given the way in which they crashed the economy and left us in a dire fiscal position. I would have hoped that the hon. Gentleman would welcome the fact that, rather than the annual funding cliff edge that they left for vital children’s hospices services, we have moved to a three-year funding settlement. His criticism beggars belief.